Rocky Mountain National Park Sees Record Crowds

· Sep. 13, 2016, 3:01 pm
Photo: Rocky Mountain National Park (NPS Flickr)(NPS via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Rocky Mountain National Park in the fall.

The Coloradoan reports that the park has welcomed more than 3 million visitors this year, a nearly 8 percent increase from the same time last year.

The park has broken visitation records every month of 2016 so far, and it's on pace to beat out the annual record of more than 4 million visitors set in 2015.

Rocky Mountain spokesman Kyle Patterson attributes the growth to the increasing population of Colorado's Front Range, a boost in the economy and reduced gas prices.

Patterson is encouraging people to visit the park to watch the annual elk rut, in which elk battle each other during mating season from mid-September through mid-October.

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